August 26, 2009
In local news this week, the Globe features a thought-provoking editorial that asks why we typically blame the people who are in a crash instead of the design of the roadway itself. A few articles talk about a recent focus by the City of Boston on fixing up neighborhood streets and cleaning up graffiti. And Momentum Magazine has a set of articles (turn to pages 17-23) all about Boston's bike renaissance.
We learn that EOT and the MBTA are planning to provide real-time bus data online. In addition, EOT has made MBTA and other regional transit agencies' geographic and schedule data available on their website for software developers. And great news for multi-use path users as the first leg of the Bruce Freeman Trail finally opens, 20 years after it was first proposed. Also, the Globe takes a critical look at the effects Mayor Menino has had on development in the city, both good and bad.
New York City and Washington DC are experiencing their own bicycling revolutions, but just as in Boston, there is concern in New York over bicyclists not obeying traffic laws. However, a recent study in New York City also shows that lack of enforcement is causing all road users to disregard the laws. And a Toronto study shows that cyclists cause only 10% of bike/car accidents.
Ed Glaeser finishes his economic analysis of high speed rail, while Streetsblog questions his numbers and Infrastructurist takes a stab at a more accurate set of calculations. Slate takes a look at how better bike parking could improve our cities, and Scientific American focuses on the potential increase of bicycling from bike sharing programs. Grist points out how we pay a premium to live in walkable neighborhoods. And the first round of High Speed Rail applications are in, as discussed by Transport Politic and the Wall Street Journal.
"Streets"
- Editorial: Roads that are designed to kill (Boston Globe)
- To see their fiscal way, towns cut the lights (Boston Globe)
- 'Improvement Team' headed to streets of Mattapan on Aug. 29 (Dorchester Reporter)
- Editorial: In 2 visions, a blueprint to a livable city (Boston Globe)
- Dudley St. mural is A-OK in Aloisi's eyes (Boston Globe)
- Editorial: Dudley mural: Let artists have their say (Boston Globe)
- Summer of surprise standstills (Boston Globe)
- Shootout in Allston leaves countless wet, entertained (Allston-Brighton TAB)
- City "attacks" graffiti (Bulletin Newspapers)
Bicycling
- Boston Bike Renaissance (Turn to pages 17-23) (Momentum Magazine)
- Maps steer cyclists toward fresh air and fresh produce (Boston Globe)
- Commentary: The War on Bikes (Dave Writes)
- My Impressions of the Velibs in Paris (Chic Cyclist)
- Bicycle sharing could come to Brookline (Brookline TAB)
Transit
- Davey: Better Commuter Rail through innovation, investment (Daily News Tribune)
- Hey dude, where's my bus? (Boston Globe)
- Coming soon: iPhone app for the MBTA? (Boston Globe)
- Resignation of GM Grabauskas --
- Aloisi e-mails zero in on Grabauskas (Boston Globe)
- Letter: Disabled lose an advocate at the T (Boston Globe)
- Editorial: Aloisi: It's Danvers, not Danzig (Boston Globe)
- Report: More riders but less money for T (Boston Metro)
- MBCR tries to weed out trickery on fare (Boston Metro, Commonwealth Conversations)
- Editorial: Finally, a rail plan for New England (Boston Globe)
- Letter: Lies about rail link keep on rolling (Boston Globe)
- Guest column: Stepping back, riding forward (Boston Globe)
Cars/Parking
- Traffic Board shuts down petition against parking changes (Somerville News)
- Editorial: Electric vehicles aren't the solution - yet (Boston Globe)
- Editorial: Boston's hybrid compromise (Boston Globe)
- Somerville alderman candidate opposed to new parking regulations (Somerville Journal)
- 100 to ditch their vehicles after Zipcar 'diet' (Boston Herald)
- Commentary: Beware - Somerville's parking ticket system flawed (Somerville Journal)
Transportation financing/Government
- Mass. spending $200K on transportation merger plan (Boston Herald)
- Ruling rebuffs toll payers who use Mass. Pike (Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Brookline TAB)
- Lawyers appeal ruling on spending toll cash for Big Dig (Brookline TAB)
- Letter: Raising the gas tax was the answer (Boston Globe)
- Trans Reform, Collaboration Saving Money (Commonwealth Conversations)
- Transportation Reform 101: The Board (Boston Herald)
- Hub weaves web of woes on new site (Boston Herald)
Parks
- Menino, BRA allocate $45,000 for Berkeley Street Community Garden fence project (South End News)
- How Boston parks measure up (CommonWealth Unbound)
- Growing disagreement along Memorial Drive as environmental group contests plan to fell trees (Boston Globe)
- Letter: A green oasis (Boston Globe)
- After years of work, first leg of Bruce Freeman Rail Trail set to open (Lowell Sun)
Development projects
- Pike to pay for Columbus cleanup (Boston Herald)
- State may absorb $30m on project build over Pike [Fenway Center] (Boston Globe)
- Letter: Fenway Center funds (Boston Globe)
- Letter: Fenway Center plan and its subsidy (Boston Globe)
- "A City Remade" --
- The city the mayor (painstakingly) built (Boston Globe)
- 'They approve everything, unless you're someone they don't like' (Boston Globe)
- Editoral: Crowning achievement (Boston Globe)
- Profiting under Menino (Boston Globe)
- Boston development by neighborhood (Boston Globe)
- Challengers denounce Menino's grip on development (Boston Globe)
Land Use/Planning
- Visions of a new Broadway assessed (Somerville News)
Out-of-state
- Biking 'Fastest Growing' Way To Get Around NYC (WCBS)
- Pedalmania in the District (Washington Post)
- Cyclists, pedestrians and cars clash over biking boom in New York City (Daily News)
- Santa Rosa 'bike boulevard' experiment takes hold (Press Democrat)
- Staten Island cyclist assaulted by motorist for being in bike lane (Examiner)
- Los Angeles Regional Connector Stirs Controversy in Little Tokyo (Transport Politic)
- D.C. City Government Considers "Cash for Close-in Urban Living" (Streetsblog DC)
- VIDEO: On the Street | Happy Trails (New York Times)
- Pumping Up the Plea to Make L.A. More Bike Friendly (LA Business Journal)
- Governor Bobby Jindal, Flip-Flopper Extraordinaire (Transport Politic, Streetsblog DC)
- Apple is hell on wheels (New York Post, Streetsblog)
- The Power of Transit-Oriented Development (Streetsblog DC)
National trends
- How decent bike parking could revolutionize American cities (Slate)
- Mileage tax may fund new road repairs (Marketplace)
- Should Existing Interstate Highways Be Tolled? (National Journal)
- Bountiful bikes: Can a share program get more people cycling around cities? (Scientific American)
- Smart growth must become more demanding, more community-oriented, and greener (literally) (Switchboard)
- Would you pay more for walkability? Should you? (Grist)
- What Would High-Speed Rail Do to Suburban Sprawl (New York Times)
- Glaeser Goes Out With a Whimper (Streetsblog DC)
- Hey, Ed Glaeser, You're Wrong: Better Numbers Shows High Speed Rail Pays For Itself (Infrastructurist)
- The Transport Index 2009 (Transport Politic)
- On Point: Ray LaHood (WBUR)
- US puts brakes on 'cash for clunkers' before it starts running on fumes (Boston Globe)
- Editorial: Getting America back on track is no easy task (Guardian)
- Final Applications Submitted for Phase I of High-Speed Rail Stimulus Dollars (Transport Politic, Wall Street Journal)
International news
- Commuter cat is star of bus route (BBC News)
- Biking the Iron Curtain Trail (New York Times)
- Is China on Track for Suburban Sprawl? (New York Times)
- Bicycle Commuter Superhighways in Copenhagen (Copenhagenize.com)
- The evolution of one Dutch road over 200 years (A view from the cycle path)
- Calgary Getting A Fancy New Cigar-Shaped Bridge For Walkers And Cyclists (Infrastructurist)
- Cyclists Cause Less Than 10% of Bike/Car Accidents (TreeHugger)